Exit lock



April 1950 N. KULBERSH 2,505,190

EXIT LOCK Filed March 6, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet l April 25, 19 50 'N. KULBERSH 2,505,190

EXIT LOCK Filed March 6, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 1950 N. KULBERSH 2,505,190

EXIT LOCK Filed March 6, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Ap 5, 1950 N. KULBERSH 2,505,190

EXIT LOCK I Filed March 6, 1948 '4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Apr. 25, 1950 EXIT LOCK Nathan Kulbersh, West Haven, Conn., assignor to Sargent & Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application March 6, 1948, Serial No. 13,409

3 Claims.

This invention relates to exit locks, and more particularly to a lock adapted to be applied to the door of a public building and designed for use in connection with a so-called panic bar which is pivotally connected to the lock case and lies across the inner face of the door in such a manner that operation of the panic bar in either direction will release the bolt and permit the door to open. Such locks are particularly adapted for use in an emergency, or in case of a panic, and should be so constructed that, when people within the building crowd against the door, the latch will be automatically released and not beprevented from moving to a doorreleasing position by pressure upon the door.

In many instances, such locks are applied to double doors, one of the doors having a vertical rod or bolt which is designed to engage the lintel at the top of the door and the sill at the floor, and this door, which is normally closed, is usually provided with a strike to cooperate with a bolt in the lock case applied to the companion door. As shown herein, both doors are provided with operating members of the so-called panicbar, so that persons crowding against the same will automatically release either or both doors, and the construction of the lock mechanism is such that movement of the panic bar in either direction will release the door.

Ithas sometimes occurred that, when such doors are provided with a sliding bolt, the pres sure upon the door by people crowding against it, will cause the sliding latch to bind frictionally and prevent it from being retracted, so that the door will not be opened and, as a consequence, the occupants of a building will be prevented from leaving. I contemplate by the present invention constructing the lock mechanism so that there will be no danger of the bolt binding, but, on the contrary, pressure against the door will serve to automatically release it and not cause it to bind in closed position. To this end, the door bolt, which in this instance is beveled in a manner similar to latch bolts, is pivoted at each side, so that it may swing in either direction with respect to a vertical axis. In other words, when the door is closed, the bolt is retracted by being swung in one direction about the pivot at one of its rear edges by contact with the strike plate, and, when actuated or released by the panic bar, it may be swung in the other direction to open the door or when the door is moved in an open- 1 ing direction. Thus, the bolt is not required to slide along the edge of the strike, and, therefore,

can never be frictionally bound against the strike and prevented from being retracted.

One object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved emergency exit lock, wherein the bolt will always function easily and without binding regardless of conditions which might be imposed upon it.

Another object of the invention is to provide an emergency exit lock having a door bolt pivoted about both rear edges, so that it may swing in either direction.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a lock of the character described above which may be readily and positively controlled, and which may be employed in connection with a guard bolt, so that the door may not be opened from the outside by an unauthorized person.

' To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a pair of companion doors provided with an emergency exit lock embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the lock applied to the right-hand door shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view thereof;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevational view of the lock mechanism shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the rear cover of the case being removed to show the interior mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a view of the rear cover of the case;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the dogging slide;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on line ll of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on line 88 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on line 9-9 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view on line Ill-l0 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but with many of the parts removed to show the mechanism at the front of the case;

Fig. 12 is a view of the latch structure at the upper and lower edges of the left-hand door shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 13 is a sectional view on line |3l3 of Fig. 12.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings a door frame at I0 having leftand right-hand doors II and I2 hinged thereto at their outer edges, these doors being arranged to swing outwardly as is usual with doors of public buildings.

At the inner side of the left-hand door H is arranged a lock case i3 to which is pivoted one end of a. U-shaped panic bar It, the other end being pivoted to a bracket l secured to the door. The case [3 is provided with a strike plate [6 designed to cooperate with the bolt of a lock mechanism applied to the door l2, as will now be described.

To the inner side of the door I2 is secured the lock case, l.'i,.this case being provided withspaced. ears or lugs t8 towhich is pivoted one end of a panic bar [9, the other end being pivoted to the bracket 20 secured to the face of the door. As

shown more especially in Figs. 7 and 11, the end of the panic bar which is secured to the case. I 1

is provided with a finger or lug 2 5. upon the side of its pivot 22 opposite the bar E35,. which. lug extends into the lock case so as to li'e'between pro-- jections 23 and 24 on the elements 25 and 26 of a walking beam structure slidably mounted the lock case. The members 25 and 25 are connected by the pivoted link 2?; in the usual manner, so

that, when one of these members moves downwardly, the otherwillmove upwardly. In order that these two members of the walking beam structure maybe properly guided in theirmovemerits, the member 25 is hollow to provide a cylinder; and" the member 2615 provided with a piston like part '28 slidably received in the hollow member 25. It will be apparentthat, with this constructiomwhen" the panic bar Iii-is swung toward the door or in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig". 7-, the finger 2-! will contact the part 23 and. move the member 25' upwardly, which; through thelink 27, will effect downward movement of'the part 26. Also, if the panic bar is raised or movedoutwardlyfrom the'face of the door; the finger 2+ will move downwardly, as shown 'in Figs: 7 and" 1-1, and, by contacting the part 241 will move the member 2*?downwardly; This latter member; therefore, moves d'ownwardly regardless" of the direction in which the panic bar is swung aboutits pivot 22; and it' is provided with a lug 2 which serves to actuate the bolt-controlling slide; as will'be hereinafter explainedj 'thislug', of course; moving downwardly whenever the panicbar is'actuated.

As shown moreespecially'ih Figs. 2; 3;.4ahd" 9,1a bolt 3 0 ismounted in the case 17'; of this bolt'is'b'evel'ed' as at 3|, while the outer maybe of rounded or arcuate shape; as

'tt'zl'and'it will be seen that", when either apbintadjacent' the edge thereof;

esshqwn m Figs. 9 and the bolt 3T5 i's'providedf i with. upper and lower pivot pins 34 at its outerfe'dge and upper and lower pivot pins 35' at its. inner edge These pivot pins'a're' mounted in cradles 3B sneer, which cradles are open rearwarzdlyto permit the bolt to pivot aboutv either ed'gef, and thej pivot. pins at the opposite edge move rearwar'dly into the case, as shown in the dottedeline. positions of Fig. 9. That is, whenthe door is closed; for example, and the beveled surface 3t engages the strike plate iii, the bolt will pivot about the pins 55, and the pivots 34 will move rearwardly into the case." When opening pressure isapplied to the door and the surface 32"01 thelbolti 3'6 pressed against the strike plate lfigthejbolt will pivot about the pins 3'4, and the pins 35willl1'nove rearwardly-into the case. As shown in Fig. 10, the upper pin 35 is elongated, and one end ofa spring 39 acts against this pin to hold it in the cradle 31, theother end' of the spring being engaged with the lock case, as shown at 40.

A bolt stem 41 is slidably mountedin the case;

The inner edge" tn eiige star the edge 32of the 501i; engagemestrike plate, {S it will tend to swing the boltabout' the rear end of which is slidably mounted in the guide 42 secured to the case 13, and the forward end of the bolt stem is pivoted to the bolt 35 at the point 45 substantially midway between the pivot pins 35 and 35. This stem is urged in an outward direction, and, therefore, the bolt to is urged to the protracted. position shown in full lines in Fig. 9 by a spring 43* which acts at its rear end against the guide 52 and at its forward end against a washer 3% held in place upon the stem 4| by a pin 45.

The rear end of the bolt stem 41 is provided with a crosshead G6, which is engaged by the lower end of a lever 4'7 pivoted at 48 to a plate 49 securediwithi'n the casing at the rear of the walking beam structure shown in Fig. 11, this plate being secured by the screw 5i] to a lug 5i provided on the case. The other end of the lever 43 is adapted' to be engaged and actuated by the part 52 of the walking beam element 26. It will be seen that the part 52 is normallyspaced above the upper end 53' of the lever so as to provide a certain amount of lost motion'between theseparts for a purpose which will hereinafter be explained, and it will also be obviousthat, when the wall:- ing beam structure is actuated by the panic bar l9; the-part 52 will be moved downwardly to engage-the upper end- 53 ofthe-lever M- and-thusretract the latch bolt stem M, whichwill in turn retract thelatch bolt or cause it" to swing inwardly about the pivot-pins 35, these pins being yieldingly held in their forward position at this timeby the spring 39.

It will be apparent that, in order to hold the door positivelyclosed', it will be-necessary to block movement of the bolt 3!} as otherwise this bolt would be cammed by pressure against the-strike to a-- retracted position in which itis moved pivotally about the pinst i. This-is effected by-meansof a dogging slide 5.5, shownin -Figa 6; this slid'e being mountedforiwardly of the plate 59 sozasto be on. the same sideof the plate: as; the: walking beam structure. the upper end; of the: slide is an arm. 55. which projectsi throughr an opening 5?: in

the. plate 49;.and;a;spring58zengagesathiszarm and tends. toturge the: slide upward1y,. this spring. being coiled. about; the pivotpin; 4.8. of the. member 47 andhaving its other. end bearing. against. astop post 59 on the lever 41., V

At its. lowerend, the: slide is-provided witha lug 6ll adapted to be engaged by the lug 29 (Fig. 11) on. the walking beam-member 25, so that, when thelatter is;movedldown ward1y, theslide 55 will also be. moved downwardly againstthe tensionof the spring 58:. Theslide 55 is also provided at its lowerendwith. a part 6| which extends through slot BZtin the plate4 9, and the forward face 63. of this portionof the slide is adapted, when the slide is'in its upper position, to stand behind the crossheadii'd'of'the bolt stem 4| and prevent the rearwardor ihwardmovement of the stem and thereby dog. the boltin protracted. position. That is, the b oltfi'cannot move about either of its pivots or slide rearwardly into the casing so long as the stern M is dogged against movement.

Means 'ai'eipro'vid'ed' for controlling the position of the slide 55' by means Of the usual guard bolt adapted to be engaged by a'solid" portion of the door strike and hold the guard bolt retracted.

For this purpose; the slide 55 is provided with a further projecting lug 65 (Figs; 4 and6), which is engaged by one 'end'fifi'of a dogging lever'piv operatedv by the arms of a rollback; 69, which rollback is inturn adapted-to be actuated by an outside knob (not shown). t v The,.guard bolt 'I I has a. level upon each side, and is slidably mounted in the'case. The stem 120i, this bolt extends rearwardly through the guide I3 secured to the case I3, and the bolt is normally held in protracted position by the spring 14. At the rear end oithe stem 13 is a crosshead Iwhich extends behind, and is engaged by, a post 'I6,on the front face of the dogging lever 68 (the reariacaas shown in Fig. 4). The crosshead I5 also extends upwardly, and, asshown in Fig; 4, lies rearwardly of an abutment I8 on the bolt stem 4|, so that,whenever the latter moves rearwardly due to the retraction of the bolt 30, the guard bolt will also be retracted.

Whenthe dooris open, the parts are in the position'shown in Fig. 4'of the drawings with both uard bolt II and latch bolt 30 standing in protracted positions. At this time, the clogging lever is held in position shown in Fig. 4 by engagement or the cros'shead I5 with the post 16. 'As the spring" is stronger than the spring 58, the end 66"of the dogging lever holds the dogging slide 55 in its lower position in which the face 63 of this slide stands below the'crosshead 46 on the bolt stem 4|, and, therefore, the latter stem is free to move inwardly.

When the door is closed, both guard bolt and latch bolt are retracted by engagement with the door strike, and, when the door reaches its final closed position, the latch bolt 30 springs outwardly into the bolt opening in the strike but the guard boltis held'in retracted positiomthus permitting the "spring 58 to move the dogging slide 55 upwardly to the dotted-line position shown'in Fig. 4 in which the part 63 of the dogging slide stands behind the crosshead 46. and dogs the bolt 30 against retraction.

With the door in closed position, it may be opened in one of several ways. First, it may be opened by means of the panic bar H) which oper ates the walking beam structure previously described so as to move the part 26 of this structure downwardly, and thus move the slide 55 downwardly against the tension of the spring 58. This releases the bolt stem for retracting movement, and the door may be opened by pressure thereon as contact of the edge 32 of the latch bolt 30 with the strike will cause the bolt to pivot around the pins 34 and thus be retracted. However, outward pressure upon the door is not necessary as continued movement of the panic bar to continue downward movement of the walking beam structure will cause the lug 52 (Fig. 4) to engage the end 53 of the lever 41 and positively retract the bolt 30 by moving the stem 4| rearwardly.

It will be noted that there is lost motion between the parts 52 and 53 so as to permit the dogging slide 55 to be moved downwardly prior to the engagement of the end 53 of the retracting lever 41 by the lug 52. In this manner, the crosshead 46 is freed from engagement by the dogging slide before a retracting movement is imparted to the bolt stem 4|.

The door may also be opened from the outside by means of the rollback 69, which, when rotated, will move the dogging lever to the position shown in Fig. 4. This causes the end 66 of this lever to engage the lug 65 and move the slide downwardly against the tension of the spring 58 and, thereafter, a pull upon the outside knob will cause the bolt to pivot about the outer pins 34 and release the door.

- I have also provided means for dogging the outside knob against operation when it is desired to prevent entrance to the door. As shown in Fig. 5, thecase I1 is provided with a rear plate upon which is movably mounted a slide 8| having a notch 82 in its lower end adapted to embrace the upper arm of the rollback 69 when the slide is moved to its dotted-lineposition shown in Fig. 5. The slide may be mounted on the plate 80 by means of slots 83 providedin the slide and pins 84 secured to the plate, and may be releasably held in either upper or lower position by a friction spring 85. v I

As shown in Fig. 4, a key-operated hub 86 is rotatably mounted in the case, this hub being provided with a cam 87 adapted to stand between the posts 88 and 88 on the slide 8|, so that the latter may be moved from the full-line position shown in Fig. 5 to the dotted-line position shown in this figure, and vice versa. The hub 86 is adapted to be operated by a key 89 (Fig. 2) at the inside of the door. Thus, by operation of this key, the rollback 69 operated by an outside knob may be dogged and the door prevented from being opened from the outside without the use of a key.

'If the outside knob i's'dogged in this way, it is desirable to provide some means for permitting entrance to the door from the outside by means of a key. This is readily done by means of a key-operated rollbackarm 90 rotatably mounted on the plate 80, as shown in Fig. 5. This arm is in a position to engage the arm 56 (Figs. 4 and 6) so as to move the dogging slide 55 downwardly against the action of the spring 58. anyone at the outside of the door, if he is provided with the proper key, can rotate the arm 90, thus moving the dogging slide 55 downwardly clear of engagement with the crosshead 45, thus freeing the bolt stem 4| for retraction, and, thereafter, a pull upon the knob will cause the bolt to be cammed into the case and the door may be opened.

In Figs. 12 and 13 of the drawings, I have shown the bolt structure provided upon the door II. A rod is slidably mounted in the case I3, and is operated by the panic bar lever I4 in the usual manner. At the lower end, this rod extends into a case 96 and carries a yoke 91, the lower end of which is pivoted to a bolt 98, this bolt being in turn pivoted in the case at 99 and adapted to engage a plate in the door sill to hold the door in closed position.

At its upper end, the rod 95 extends into a case I00, and the upper end IOI of this rod is adapted, when the rod is moved upwardly, to engage and move to retracted position a bolt I02 pivoted to the door lintel I03 at the point I04. This bolt is normally urged toward the full-line position shown in Fig. 13 by the spring I05.

The parts are shown in full lines in the drawings in the positions occupied when the door is closed. It will be noted that the bolt 98 is in protracted position and the bolt I02 is in its lower position in which it projects through an opening in the case I00, so as to be engaged by this case and hold the door in closed position. When, however, the rod 95 is moved upwardly by the panic bar lever I4, the bolt 98 will be withdrawn into the case 96, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 13, and the upper end IOI will engage the bolt I02 and move it upwardly out of the case I00, so that the lower end of the bolt will be flush with the door lintel and will permit the door to open.

A stop member I06 is mounted in the case I00,

Therefore,

tion-whe'n the door is open, so that mounted therein, means connecting said biilt'tiir the case for-pivotal movement about-two opposite edges thereof, a doggingslide-mountedfoi' sud-mg movement in the casetojd0g seid bolt'a'gjinst movement about either of its pivots, a spring: urging said slide to doggin positicn', a guard bolt projecting through the mce'of the case; said guard bolt being operativeIy"connected-to the slide to move it to non dogg-ing position latch bolt operating means to first move-said dogging slide to' non-dogging posit-ion and thereafter "re: tra'c'tthe' latch bolt, a bar pivoted'totnedoor; andmeans connecting said bar' to said latch bolt operating means to 'actuate'theiatter 'upon movement 'ofth'e bar in either direction about its pivot;

2; A door lock ,havingfiacase; a latch bolt mountedtherein, means connecting said bolt to movementabout either Of its IiiVdtS'; "a spring bolt lprojectihg through the face of the Case-Said guard boltbeing dpe'raltivel'y dl'in'tdwoth wil lfbe'held in retracted position at this time;

slide unmoved? tenc ogg'i'ng position; iateh bolt" operating means to fiiSt" m0Ve Siiild flogging slide to non-dogging position' 'and thereafter-retract the iatnbolt; :1- bar pivoted jtp the door, and means connedting'seiid bar' to saidiatch-boit operating me ns' inciud-ingwwaikin'g 'beam" struc tnrenctfiatedmy-the bar. 7 I

3-. doorlodk'navm'g a case; a ia'tdhboit mounted therein, nieans connectmg said bolt to the casefor =pivota,1"movement abouftwo-opposite edges 'thereofj a, dog ing sfide mounted for slid= i'iigmovenientinthe casefl'todog' saidbolt fa'gaiin's't movement-about either of its pivots, 'a; spring urgeme said slide'tddogg'ing'position, 'a. guard belt pib jeiitihg' 'thlbi'lgli the face "0f the Case, 5333. gilaid bolt b'eing"operative1y connected to the slide to move it't'o"nofi dogingbosition, latchbOlt 'Ffieia'Ltifig di'feiainsto' first move "821a abggi slide to non=iioging 15osition "'andfthereetterretract the 1mm bo'lt, fa. oar pivoted to the door, means connecting ,S'aid' bar to S'difl latch-bolt ofiflfingifieahs ir'fdliifliri'ga waikingbeam Structure actuated by fthe-bar, and said wallking beam structure engaging; said slide-and said latchbolt operating means. 7

- NATHKNZKULBERSH.

REFERENCES cum n The --following references are *ofreco'rd =in the file of-"thiiszpatent: 

